In 25 years of service as an Army chaplain, Col. Janet Horton, of the Armed Forces Chaplains Board, never experienced the kind of hell that she found at ground zero in the Pentagon's center courtyard.
Burned and bloodied people sat or lay on the ground. Women staggered by, their clothes and nylons rent with gaping holes. Rescuers were already working to pull people out when Horton arrived.
As doctors and nurses began treating those who were the most critically injured and in horrific pain, Horton knelt beside the victims to try to allay their fears. She recited the 23rd Psalm. She prayed the Lord's Prayer.
